CIO Contract Job Trends

Chief Information Officer (CIO)
UK

The median Chief Information Officer (CIO) daily rate in the UK is £900, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 14 September 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 549 560 658
Rank change year-on-year +11 +98 +189
Contract jobs requiring a CIO 4 3 1
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.012% 0.008% 0.002%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.013% 0.008% 0.002%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 2 0
10th Percentile £330 £924 -
25th Percentile £525 £1,072 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £900 £1,363 -
Median % change year-on-year -33.94% - -
75th Percentile £1,013 £1,672 -
90th Percentile £1,050 £1,831 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £1,050 £850 -
% change year-on-year +23.53% - -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 29,762 35,713 47,490
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.05% 93.01% 94.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,795 22,135 32,566
10th Percentile £278 £300 £300
25th Percentile £400 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £620 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - +1.01%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,555 1,710 1,509
10th Percentile £13.69 £14.73 £14.56
25th Percentile £17.00 £20.50 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £43.75
Median % change year-on-year -41.51% -1.71% +68.27%
75th Percentile £51.72 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £41.50
% change year-on-year -44.11% +8.43% +88.64%

CIO
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured CIO in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for CIO in the UK

CIO
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for CIO job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for CIO job vacancies in the UK

CIO
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing CIO over the 6 months to 14 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for CIO in the UK

CIO
Top 5 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing CIO within the UK over the 6 months to 14 September 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Work from Home +16 4 £900 -33.94% 2
England +11 4 £900 -33.94%
London +17 2 £200 -89.33%
UK excluding London -4 1 £1,050 +23.53% 1
South East - 1 £1,050 -

CIO Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 14 September 2025, CIO contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring CIO in the job title.

1 1 (25.00%) Service Delivery
1 1 (25.00%) Finance
1 1 (25.00%) Law
1 1 (25.00%) Legal
1 1 (25.00%) Banking
1 1 (25.00%) Document Management
1 1 (25.00%) Artificial Intelligence
1 1 (25.00%) Local Government
1 1 (25.00%) Business Development
1 1 (25.00%) Performance Management
1 1 (25.00%) Data Protection
1 1 (25.00%) HIPAA
1 1 (25.00%) E-Discovery
1 1 (25.00%) High Availability
1 1 (25.00%) Data Governance
1 1 (25.00%) Cybersecurity
1 1 (25.00%) Mentoring
1 1 (25.00%) User Experience
1 1 (25.00%) Fintech
1 1 (25.00%) Case Management
1 1 (25.00%) GDPR
1 1 (25.00%) IT Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) Data Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) Creative Thinking
1 1 (25.00%) Strategic Thinking
1 1 (25.00%) Collaborative Working
1 1 (25.00%) Public Sector
1 1 (25.00%) Social Skills
1 1 (25.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
1 1 (25.00%) Aviation

CIO Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

General
1 1 (25.00%) Aviation
1 1 (25.00%) Banking
1 1 (25.00%) Finance
1 1 (25.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
1 1 (25.00%) Law
1 1 (25.00%) Legal
1 1 (25.00%) Local Government
1 1 (25.00%) Public Sector
1 1 (25.00%) Social Skills
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (25.00%) Artificial Intelligence
1 1 (25.00%) Business Development
1 1 (25.00%) Case Management
1 1 (25.00%) Collaborative Working
1 1 (25.00%) Creative Thinking
1 1 (25.00%) Cybersecurity
1 1 (25.00%) Data Governance
1 1 (25.00%) Data Protection
1 1 (25.00%) Data Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) Document Management
1 1 (25.00%) E-Discovery
1 1 (25.00%) Fintech
1 1 (25.00%) High Availability
1 1 (25.00%) IT Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) Mentoring
1 1 (25.00%) Performance Management
1 1 (25.00%) Service Delivery
1 1 (25.00%) Strategic Thinking
1 1 (25.00%) Technology Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) User Experience
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (25.00%) GDPR
1 1 (25.00%) HIPAA